TexasCHLforum.com

tah wrote:I got really tired of seeing "processing application" since my pin receipt back in July. So in a fit of menopause, I wrote a testy e-mail to the DPS right before I left town on Thursday evening. I returned to find this in my e-mail box today - "The license has been printed. You should receive it within 1-2 weeks". Yet when I check online the website still says "processing application".

I don't know whether to dance, laugh or pitch a tent by the mailbox......

Thoughts?

Your status *should* say "Application complete - certificate is active" or something to that affect. I don't understand why it takes "two to three weeks" to print a card and mail it.

thorkyl wrote:As of 9-1-2009 they made some changes to the process that will speed it up a bunch.

What is your definition of "a bunch"? Is it below 60 days, or below 100 days? :)

Have any of you guys that have exceeded the 60-day limit considered contacting your local network news affiliate? In San Antonio, KENS-5 tv has a thing called "Eyewitness Wants To Know", and they champion people's causes for them - things just like this. I know I sure plan on doing that when/if mine goes over 60 days.

If something is gonna light a fire under DPS's collective butts, it's when the media comes knocking on their door.

My FFL's wife is on day 128...

I started the process on Sept 01 by applying online and paying my money up front. My CHL class is next Saturday.

Apparently, there is a question as to whether I'll receive my plastic before the end of the Mayan calendar...

I'm a computer programmer, and computers are pretty quick nowadays. I know for a fact that all of my info can be found in less than 60 seconds, so their 60-day time frame (which appears to be exceeded by 3 or 4 times) is bogus.

My recommendations for making the whole process more efficient:

0) Allow the CHL instructors to electronically file applicant certificates and finger prints with DPS. Verification that the certificate has been filed would be sent back to both the instructor AND the applicant via email. The email to the applicant would include a PIN code that allows him access to the accelerated application web page.

1) Only after the CHL course has been taken and the certificate filed, the applicant can apply online via the DPS web site that's already in place.

2) Once the application is submitted, and if paid for via credit card, a background check is automatically triggered. Further, age or military service status can be verified electronically - IT'S ALL IN THE SYSTEM.

3) If the background check comes back with no flags, and as long as you paid the proper amount, the license is automatically "printed" and mailed out. Otherwise, a human at DPS (an oxymoron?) is notified that further (manual) examination may be necessary. This is where the extended wait times should be experienced.

The entire process could be handled by computer. Given a clean electronic background check, we could see one-week turnaround times (OR LESS) for license approval/activation, and would involve no humans other than the CHL instructor and the applicant. It's really just that simple. They could even use the picture from our drivers license to speed things up since your DL is an official state document.

Meanwhile, my brilliant ideas baste in the stew of apathy nurtured by the DPS and the Texas legislature, and I, like thousands of others here, wait for the mercilessly slow wheels of progress to turn in Austin.

I mean, seriously - this is the 21st century - why are humans involved in this kind of mundane processing at all?!